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Military Health and Health Care

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As a large employer in the United States, the Department of Defense faces significant challenges ensuring that all members of the military, as well as their families, receive appropriate health care for everything from general health and well-being to specialized clinical care for deployment related injuries such as amputations, chemically induced illnesses, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Combining its expertise in health and defense policy, RAND examines policy issues surrounding military medical care needs and the systems intended to meet them.

The military health system performs well in following up with patients after they are discharged from a mental health hospitalization. But some areas of care for PTSD and depression need improvement. For example, although most patients received at least one psychotherapy visit, the number and timing of subsequent visits may be inadequate.

What are veterans' demographics and health care needs and how might these evolve? What resources and capacity to deliver health care does the Department of Veterans Affairs have and how might this impact veterans' access? What should policymakers consider when examining changes to VA's use of purchased care?

This report studies the military medical literature and recent historical cases to explore the relationships between rescuability and time during medical evacuations and other personnel recovery missions.

RAND is supporting the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in its efforts to advance a Culture of Health, with the goal of enabling all Americans to lead healthier lives, now and for generations to come. Realizing this vision will require a national paradigm shift from a medical care-centric view of health toward one that focuses on wellbeing.

RAND evaluated the Unified Behavioral Health Center for Military Veterans and Their Families, a new model of behavioral health care that provides colocated and coordinated care for veterans and their families.

This report presents an evaluation of the Unified Behavioral Health Center for Military Veterans and Their Families, a new model of behavioral health care that provides colocated and coordinated care for veterans and their families.

Too few of the veterans who experience mental health issues get the help they need. Even fewer get the right care. Closing these gaps will require raising awareness about the barriers to care, and changing how the mental health care system is organized and delivers services.

Changing the response scale for the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist (PCL), a measure of PTSD symptom severity, yields comparable results to the original version and may improve its clinical utility.

About 70 percent of a community sample of young veterans reported screening positive for behavioral health conditions, with co-occurrence of many conditions, but only about one-third received minimally adequate care.

Actions to help women veterans, and possibly curtail suicide among them, could include addressing military sexual trauma, adding questions about deliberate self-harm to suicide risk assessments, and reducing access to lethal suicide means.

To help Hill staffers make the most of the Congressional recess, RAND has developed a list of must-read research and commentaries that will help ensure policymakers will return ready to hit the ground running.

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Researcher Spotlight

Senior Behavioral Scientist

Kimberly Hepner is a senior behavioral scientist and a licensed clinical psychologist at the RAND Corporation. Her research focuses on approaches to assess and improve quality of care for mental health and substance use problems. She has led studies to assess the quality of care received by…

Senior Economist

Ellen M. Pint is a senior economist at RAND. She is currently working on studies assessing potential savings from a block buy contract for the Joint Strike Fighter, and industrial base risks from common components in Air Force and Navy strategic missiles. Other recent work includes developing…

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